The 8 Best Follow Focuses
Special Honors
DJI Focus This wireless offering comes from a giant in the worlds of camera stabilization and drone development, and it features a marking point with a bright blue light you can use to help you dial in your shot in poor lighting conditions. It's easy to calibrate, which is good, because it requires fequent recalibration throughout a shooting day. dji.com
Teradek RT This comprehensive solution separates the receiver module from the actual component that mounts against the camera lens, allowing for a larger build that can create and sustain a reliable connection with fewer dropouts and better battery life. The controller is comfortable to hold and easy to use, and features a mounting point for small, portable monitors. teradek.com
Editor's Notes
May 06, 2020:
I've used a handful of follow focus devices through the years, and I've found there are benefits and drawbacks to both manual and electronic systems. Manual models can be excellent when they have the kind of smooth gears you find in something like the Tilta FF-T03, but strangely, I find that more budget-friendly models work best with lenses that are designed for still photography, which you'll often see on lower-budget sets. The Neewer A-B Stop C2, for example, with its rubber ring you can slap onto just about an camera lens, it light and agile, making it a balanced companion to lightweight DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, where the weight and performance of something like the JTZ DP30 is actually going to feel more comfortable on a cinema lens within a large, built-out rig.
Among electronic options, the Tilta Nucleus-M is one of the best in the business, with a deeply knurled wooden handwheel that's much friendlier to turn than the wheel on something like the DJI model in our special honors section. These models can be a big help when using steadicams and other stabilizing devices, but they can also eat up time on set for recalibration, battery swaps, and connectivity issues, so keep that in mind.